Page 14 - Feb23T

Quite possibly, many pilots are like me and never get to experience the thrill of operating the way pilots did before huge federal investment and infrastructure were built into our national airspace system (NAS). The NAS created this incredible landscape of manicured strips of pavement in almost every city and town that gen- erates enough commerce to support air traffic. Many of us lock into our trajectory of finishing a degree, look- ing for that perfect flying or aviation management job, then we settle in for the ride of life and don’t really look around to see what else might be out there. But if we do stop to look around, we’ll find a lot of interesting stuff. Stuff that requires new skills and aircraft that have capabilities beyond what we may be used to.
I knew that lots of airports had grass strips alongside their asphalt runway counterparts. And I knew there were private grass strips out
“The RAF is dedicated to preserving existing airstrips and creating new public-use recreational airstrips throughout the United States.”
there on personal properties. But I didn’t know until recently that there is a group dedicated to supporting the maintenance and longevity of many of our country’s off-airport landing strips, many of which are remote and not well known except to a special few. It’s a group sort of supporting a final frontier.
12 • TWIN & TURBINE / February 2023
Nowadays, we can scour social me- dia or just google “backcountry fly- ing.” The stuff that pops up in those searches is more than likely filled with twenty- and thirty-somethings coordinating drone shots of river- bed touchdowns and spot landings on treacherous terrain, followed by one-wheelers and mountain
Kodiak in northwest Montana.
RAF supporters camping at Ryan Field (2MT1).
bikers cruising around whatever area they’re filming at the time. There is indeed lots of fun to be had, but all the Internet imagery that abounds is more focused on sensationalizing, not on building valuable long-term relationships and preserving a part of our aviation environment that has been forgotten to some.